Sharing my experience after visiting the Yodobashi Camera Umeda store. Yodobashi Camera is a major Japanese retail chain that has more than 20 stores around Japan. It specializes in consumer electronics and I was going there to check out the camera and photographic equipment floor.
How to get to Yodobashi Camera Umeda?
There are plenty of ways to get to Umeda. I took the Osaka Loop Line from Shin-Imamiya Station to Osaka Station using the JR-line, which took about 10 minutes. Then I walked about 5 minutes (350 meters) to where they Yodobashi Camera store is located, very close to Umeda station. I paid ¥180 using for the ride.
On Which Floor the Camera Store is Located?
The camera and photographic equipment store are located on the second floor. You just enter the building and go up the moving staircase and it’s up there.
The moment you reach the second floor you already understand what you are going to experience. It’s like a huge garage selling tons of photographic equipment. It looks so messy with all the price signs, advertisements and the tons of equipment lying there for you to try out.
I’ve seen better-looking stores like in LAB1, but here, you have a much larger selection of produces and you can try almost everything out!
What Can You Buy at Yodobashi Camera Umeda Store?
Walking through that huge collection of digital cameras and photography accessories at Yodobashi Camera Umeda Store is a big joy. I mean, if you are an amateur, enthusiast or professional, you’ll get to try out all that magnificent equipment.
This includes interchangeable lens cameras like DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. You can try out many interchangeable lenses, including one that are not usually on the counter, like expensive Carl Zeiss and Leica lenses. There are plenty of huge telephoto prime lenses mounted on cameras for you to try out. You can check different tripods, bags, lens cleaning kits, etc.
You can purchase memory cards, lens filters, memory card readers, memory card wallets, action cameras, reflectors, external drives and tons of other photographic equipment.
Trying Out Many Cameras & Photography Gear
I was able to try out all the latest Canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras, like the EOS M5, the Full frame EOS R and EOS RP. For example, trying out the Sigma dp0 Quattro and the SD Quattro which I wanted to experience for a long time. There were even some great Canon L lenses that I wanted to try first-hand and was amazed at their focus speed.
I found out that some higher-end mirrorless camera has a crappy electronic viewfinder, others have ones that give experience close to an optical one. I learned the difference in the size of full-frame DSLR viewfinders and cropped-sensor ones.
I found out how small and amazing the new Nikon D3500 camera is. It’s so compact and lightweight compared to my Nikon D7000. It focuses very fast and captures incredible high-quality photos.
I could experience it all without going to forums and ask tons of questions. This is why places like Yodobashi Camera Umeda Store are heaven on earth for enthusiast photographers like myself. I got many of my questions answered. Not just that, there are some things that you can’t understand by just reading an answer in forums. For example, knowing about the weight, the difference between electronic viewfinder and optical one, How fast the focus is. Learning about ease-of-operation of certain cameras. Feel the ergonomics of the camera and so on.
Get the Feel of the Cameras and Lenses
After trying out many different interchangeable lenses and camera bodies, I found out the ones that I liked most. By that I mean, a camera that I prefer based on its ergonomic design, weight, size, button layout operation, features, and viewfinder viewing experience.
So there are things that you must try first hand in order to get a full understanding of their pros and cons. This is why camera stores like this are golden for any enthusiast or pro photographer.
Of course, it takes time with the camera to fully comprehend all of its capabilities. This is why it’s good to make some homework at home before coming to this place. After doing some elimination and staying with a few cameras, you can further try and compare them at stores like this.
Here are more photos from Yodobashi Camera Umeda Store in Osaka, Japan.
A Must-Visit Camera Store in Osaka
Overall, Yodobashi Camera Umeda Store is a must-visit if you are an enthusiast photographer or a professional. There are many other places that have great camera and photography equipment exhibit in Osaka, Japan. I’ll share more about them in future posts. Thanks for reading.
Yodobashi official website: yodobashi.com.